A trend I've been noticing in the past year is that performance isn't everything to everyone -- and what I think MultiFinder17 may be experiencing is that he's willing to accept the performance trade-off for a G4 system, in order to get a Mac OS X machine that does what he needs/wants, in a small 12-inch 4:3 form factor.

As for the 17-inch powerbook being slightly faster -- it's also slightly more GARGANTUAN. I've got a 15-inch widescreen ThinkPad, and I would be utterly terrified to think of how much more gargantuan a 17-inch laptop must be, especially given that I think of this thing as a whale.

Anyway, congrats on the nice find MultiFinder17 -- I'm glad the 12-incher is working out for you